"Why, you see, Mr Hamilton, a great phenomenon of meteorology has
happened. We were all standing, you must know, at the open door, taking
a squint at the weather, when our attention was attracted by a curious
object that appeared in the sky, and seemed to be coming down at the
rate of ten knots an hour, right end-on for the house. I had just time
to cry, `Clear out, lads,' when it came slap in through the doorway, and
smashed to shivers there, where you see the fragments. In fact, it's a
wonderful aerolite, and Mr Rogan has just gone out with a lot of the
bits in his pocket, to make a careful examination of them, and draw up a
report for the Geological Society in London. I shouldn't wonder if he
were to send off an express to-night; and maybe you will have to convey
the news to headquarters, so you'd better go and see him about it soon."
_Soft_ although Mr Hamilton was supposed to be, he was not quite
prepared to give credit to this explanation; but being of a peaceful
disposition, and altogether unaccustomed to retort, he merely smiled his
disbelief, as he proceeded to lay aside his fowling-piece, and divest
himself of the voluminous out-of-door trappings with which he was clad.
Mr Hamilton was a tall, slender youth, of about nineteen. He had come
out by the ship in autumn, and was spending his first winter at York
Fort. Up to the period of his entering the Hudson's Bay Company's
service, he had never been more than twenty miles from home, and having
mingled little with the world, was somewhat unsophisticated, besides
being by nature gentle and unassuming.
Soon after this the man who acted as cook, waiter, and butler to the
mess, entered, and said that Mr Rogan desired to see the accountant
immediately.
"Who am I to say did it?" inquired that gentleman, as he rose to obey
the summons.
"Wouldn't it be a disinterested piece of kindness if you were to say it
was yourself?" suggested the doctor.
"Perhaps it would, but I won't," replied the accountant, as he made his
exit.
In about half an hour Mr Rogan and the accountant re-entered the
apartment. The former had quite regained his composure. He was
naturally amiable; which happy disposition was indicated by a habitually
cheerful look and smile.
"Now, gentlemen," said he, "I find that this practical joke was not
intended for me, and therefore look upon it as an unlucky accident; but
I cannot too strongly express my dislike to practical jokes of all
kinds. I have seen great evil, and some bloodshed, result from
practical jokes; and I think that, being a sufferer in consequence of
your fondness for them, I have a right to beg that you will abstain from
such doings in future--at least from such jokes as involve risk to those
who do not choose to enter into them."
Having given vent to this speech, Mr Rogan left his volatile friends to
digest it at their leisure.
"Serves us right," said the skipper, pacing up and down the room in a
repentant frame of mind, with his thumbs hooked into the arm-holes of
his vest.
The doctor said nothing, but breathed hard and smoked vigorously.
While we admit most thoroughly with Mr Rogan that practical jokes are
exceedingly bad, and productive frequently of far more evil than fun, we
feel it our duty, as a faithful delineator of manners, customs, and
character in these regions, to urge in palliation of the offence
committed by the young gentlemen at York Fort, that they had really
about as few amusements and sources of excitement as fall to the lot of
any class of men. They were entirely dependent on their own unaided
exertions, during eight or nine months of the year, for amusement or
recreation of any kind. Their books were few in number, and soon read
through. The desolate wilderness around afforded no incidents to form
subjects of conversation further than the events of a day's shooting,
which, being nearly similar every day, soon lost all interest. No
newspapers came to tell of the doings of the busy world from which they
were shut out, and nothing occurred to vary the dull routine of their
life; so that it is not matter for wonder that they were driven to seek
for relaxation and excitement occasionally in most outrageous and
unnatural ways, and to indulge now and then in the perpetration of a
practical joke.
For some time after the rebuke administered by Mr Rogan, silence
reigned in _Bachelor's Hall_, as the clerks' house was termed. But at
length symptoms of _ennui_ began to be displayed. The doctor yawned,
and lay down on his bed to enjoy an American newspaper about twelve
months old. Harry Somerville sat down to re-read a volume of Franklin's
travels in the polar regions, which he had perused twice already. Mr
Hamilton busied himself in cleaning his fowling-piece; while the skipper
conversed with Mr Wilson, who was engaged in his room in adjusting an
ivory head to a walking-stick. Mr Wilson was a jack-of-all-trades, who
could make shift, one way or other, to do _anything_. The accountant
paced the uncarpeted floor in deep contemplation.
At length he paused, and looked at Harry Somerville for some time.
"What say you to a walk through the woods to North River, Harry?"
"Ready," cried Harry, tossing down the book with a look of
contempt--"ready for anything."
"Will _you_ come, Hamilton?" added the accountant. Hamilton looked up
in surprise.
"You don't mean, surely, to take so long a walk in the dark, do you? It
is snowing, too, very heavily, and I think you said that North River was
five miles off, did you not?"
"Of course I mean to walk in the dark," replied the accountant, "unless
you can extemporise an artificial light for the occasion, or prevail on
the moon to come out for my special benefit. As to snowing, and a short
tramp of five miles, why, the sooner you get to think of such things as
_trifles_ the better, if you hope to be fit for anything in this
country."
"I _don't_ think much of them," replied Hamilton, softly, and with a
slight smile; "I only meant that such a walk was not very _attractive_
so late in the evening."
"Attractive!" shouted Harry Somerville from his bedroom, where he was
equipping himself for the walk; "what can be more attractive than a
sharp run of ten miles through the woods on a cool night to visit your
traps, with the prospect of a silver fox or a wolf at the end of it, and
an extra sound sleep as the result? Come, man, don't be soft; get
ready, and go along with us."
"Besides," added the accountant, "I don't mean to come back to-night.
To-morrow, you know, is a holiday, so we can camp out in the snow after
visiting the traps, have our supper, and start early in the morning to
search for ptarmigan."
"Well, I will go," said Hamilton, after this account of the pleasures
that were to be expected; "I am exceedingly anxious to learn to shoot
birds on the wing."
"Bless me! have you not learned that yet?" asked the doctor, in affected
surprise, as he sauntered out of his bedroom to relight his pipe.
The various bedrooms in the clerks' house were ranged round the hall,
having doors that opened directly into it, so that conversation carried
on in a loud voice was heard in all the rooms at once, and was not
unfrequently sustained in elevated tones from different apartments, when
the occupants were lounging, as they often did of an evening, in their
beds.
"No," said Hamilton, in reply to the doctor's question, "I have not
learned yet, although there were a great many grouse in the part of
Scotland where I was brought up. But my aunt, with whom I lived, was so
fearful of my shooting either myself or some one else, and had such an
aversion to firearms, that I determined to make her mind easy, by
promising that I would never use them so long as I remained under her
roof."
"Quite right; very dutiful and proper," said the doctor, with a grave,
patronising air.
"Perhaps you'll fall in with more _fox_ tracks of the same sort as the
one you gave chase to this morning," shouted the skipper, from Wilson's
room.
"Oh! there's hundreds of them out there," said the accountant; "so let's
off at once."
The trio now proceeded to equip themselves for the walk. Their costumes
were peculiar, and merit description. As they were similar in the chief
points, it will suffice to describe that of our friend Harry.
On his head he wore a fur cap made of otter-skin, with a flap on each
side to cover the ears, the frost being so intense in these climates
that without some such protection they would inevitably freeze and fall
off.
As the nose is constantly in use for the purposes of respiration, it is
always left uncovered to fight with the cold as it best can; but it is a
hard battle, and there is no doubt that, if it were possible, a nasal
covering would be extremely pleasant. Indeed, several desperate efforts
_have_ been made to construct some sort of nose-bag, but hitherto
without success, owing to the uncomfortable fact that the breath issuing
from that organ immediately freezes, and converts the covering into a
bag of snow or ice, which is not agreeable. Round his neck Harry wound
a thick shawl of such portentous dimensions that it entirely enveloped
the neck and lower part of the face; thus the entire head was, as it
were, eclipsed--the eyes, the nose, and the cheek-bones alone being
visible. He then threw on a coat made of deer-skin, so prepared that it
bore a slight resemblance to excessively coarse chamois leather. It was
somewhat in the form of a long, wide sur-tout, overlapping very much in
front, and confined closely to the figure by means of a scarlet worsted
belt instead of buttons, and was ornamented round the foot by a number
of cuts, which produced a fringe of little tails. Being lined with
thick flannel, this portion of attire was rather heavy, but extremely
necessary. A pair of blue cloth leggings having a loose flap on the
outside, were next drawn over the trousers, as an additional protection
to the knees. The feet, besides being portions of the body that are
peculiarly susceptible of cold, had further to contend against the
chafing of the lines which attach them to the snow-shoes, so that
special care in their preparation for duty was necessary. First were
put on a pair of blanketing or duffel socks, which were merely oblong in
form, without sewing or making-up of any kind. These were wrapped round
the feet, which were next thrust into a pair of made-up socks, of the
same material, having ankle-pieces; above these were put _another_ pair,
_without_ flaps for the ankles. Over all was drawn a pair of moccasins
made of stout deer-skin, similar to that of the coat. Of course, the
elegance of Harry's feet was entirely destroyed, and had he been met in
this guise by any of his friends in the "old country," they would
infallibly have come to the conclusion that he was afflicted with gout.
Over his shoulders he slung a powder-horn and shot-pouch, the latter
tastefully embroidered with dyed quill-work. A pair of deerskin
mittens, having a little bag for the thumb and a large bag for the
fingers, completed his costume.
While the three were making ready, with a running accompaniment of
grunts and groans at refractory pieces of apparel, the night without
became darker, and the snow fell thicker, so that when they issued
suddenly out of their warm abode, and emerged into the sharp, frosty
air, which blew the snow-drift into their eyes, they felt a momentary
desire to give up the project and return to their comfortable quarters.
"What a dismal-looking night it is!" said the accountant, as he led the
way along the wooden platform towards the gate of the fort.
"Very!" replied Hamilton, with an involuntary shudder.
"Keep up your heart," said Harry, in a cheerful voice; "you've no notion
how your mind will change on that point when you have walked a mile or
so and got into a comfortable heat. I must confess, however, that a
little moonshine would be an improvement," he added, on stumbling, for
the third time, off the platform into the deep snow.
"It is full moon just now," said the accountant, "and I think the clouds
look as if they would break soon. At any rate, I've been at North River
so often that I believe I could walk out there blindfold."
As he spoke they passed the gate, and diverging to the right, proceeded,
as well as the imperfect light permitted, along the footpath that led to
the forest.